


The House Named Captain Bailey

by 2tiedships2



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Breaking and Entering, Friendship, M/M, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 05:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20960969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2tiedships2/pseuds/2tiedships2
Summary: Harry needs to snap a quick picture of a house in New Jersey. Niall and Louis accompany him. If Harry didn't want chaos to ensue he shouldn't have let Niall out of the car.





	The House Named Captain Bailey

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short fic I wrote based off of a house a family member recently purchased. (Yes, there was a fire before the sale closed) I really just wanted to post something for my lovely subscribers to read while I finish my current stories. 
> 
> Note: I was watching Pride and Prejudice previous to writing this which is how Pemberley got referenced. (My Darcy's Estate.) 
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I have no association with the band One Direction and those surrounding them, please don't share this work with anyone in the band.
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

“Two, four, six, eight, which house do we appreciate?”

“Ten,” Harry and Louis replied in unison.

“Are the other ones not appreciated?” Niall asked as Harry navigated the road towards house number ten.

“Tell you what,” Harry suggested. “We’ll leave you at number four while me and Louis go check out the new one.”

“The new one as in we’ve time travelled to 1863 when the house was actually built?” Niall inquired. 

Louis let out an exasperated sigh. “Just leave him at the curb, Harry.”

Louis turned his attention to the large houses they were slowly passing, Harry obviously curious on more than just the address number ten. 

“Why do people own huge houses like this?” Louis mused. “Do you think they all have, like, six kids with at least one cat and dog?”

“Probably,” Niall noted. “I’d say this is the type of neighborhood where everyone gets together Sunday nights where the guys play poker as the ladies knit in the sitting room while gossiping about the town’s happenings.”

“And the kids?” Harry prompted. 

“Obviously they run around cheating at croquet and sneaking into the kitchen where freshly baked cookies are still cooling on the counter.” 

Louis turned to face Niall who was sat in the back seat and questioned, “Croquet?”

“Fine, water volleyball in one of their ten pools,” Niall huffed. “I thought we had time traveled so croquet was the first thing that came to mind.”

Harry snorted. “You’re ridiculous, Niall.”

Harry pulled the car up to the curb outside 10 Captain Bailey. It was an impressive house, to be sure. Although Louis couldn’t quite figure out why they were here. In New Jersey. To look at the outside of an old house. 

“Remind me while we’re here again?” Niall asked. Brilliant question, for once.

“My friends, cousins, nieces, uncle something or other is related to the original owners of the house.”

“Friend?”

“I do have other friends, Lou,” Harry huffed. He paused briefly before amending. “Okay, in this case it’s more like a classmate who I was assigned to do some family history on, but that’s besides the point.”

“Mhmm,” Niall mumbled as he got out of the car.

“All I’m doing is taking a few pictures of the outside, Niall,” Harry said as a reminder, joining Niall on the front lawn. “There’s really no need for you to be out here.”

“I needed to stretch my legs so they’re not cramped when we get to the beach.”

“Same,” Louis said as he sidled up to Harry’s side. “Make sure they’re aesthetically pleasing so you can post one to your hipster instagram, Harry.”

Harry shot a pathetic glare at Louis. He  _ really _ needed to work on his glaring if Harry wanted someone to take him seriously. 

“Let’s go,” Niall announced as he walked towards the house. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone home. Maybe the housekeeper can give us a tour or something.”

“This isn’t Pemberley,” Harry said. “It’s 2019. People don’t have housekeepers waiting around for tours of someone’s home.”

“I don’t know who Pemberley is,” Niall said as Harry and Louis hurried to join him. “But you never know.”

Louis turned to Harry and asked, “Did he just refer to Pemberley as a person?”

“I’m just going to pretend he didn’t say anything,” Harry replied. “It’s probably better that way. At least for now.”

“We’re making him watch Pride and Prejudice. Tonight, if possible,” Louis advised.

Niall was snooping around the front of the house looking in the windows, finally announcing, “Honestly, lads. There’s not even any furniture in this place. It’s obvious we’re supposed to be looking around.”

“I told you that you shouldn’t have invited him, Haz,” Louis mumbled. “Did you not consider this would happen?”

“Lads!” Niall called again, pulling the attention of the other two in the group. “The door is unlocked. It’s a sign.”

“Really?” Louis asked as he jogged to join Niall on the front porch.

“No, absolutely not!” Harry insisted. “This is my friends, cousins, uncles, aunts house. We are not breaking and entering,”

“I thought it was your friends, cousins, nieces, uncle something or other,” Niall corrected.

Louis blinked at Niall in surprise. He had actually been listening? And remembered what Harry had said? 

“Plus,” Niall continued. “It’s not breaking and entering if the door is unlocked. By default there’s an invisible ‘welcome, please come in’ sign if the owners don’t care about the house’s safety.”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” Louis countered. “ _ However _ , I’ve also never gotten a memo about the invisible sign, so it’s quite possible Niall is right.”

“We’re supposed to be going to the beach,” Harry said as Niall creaked open the door. “Not walking into someone’s house.”

Louis looked back at Harry who was still stood several feet away from the porch and said, “Think about your assignment for the family history, Harry. This was built by Captain Forman Bailey. A prominent sea captain. It’s possible we may even find where the family hid people for the Underground Railroad. I’m thinking that would probably earn you extra credit.”

“Either that or get kicked me out of school for trespassing,” Harry said as he followed Louis and Niall through the front door. 

Louis knew Harry wouldn’t be able to resist at the mention of the Underground Railroad. There was a reason he had read through the history of the house. Harry was too curious for his own good. Besides, Louis would figure out a way to keep him from getting expelled if it came down to it. Or going to jail if they got caught by the owners. 

“We should have found blueprints for the place,” Harry said as he looked around. “Everything looks perfect online but with no furniture it’s a bit harder to figure out which room is which.”

“Right,” Niall announced from behind Louis. “We definitely need blueprints. Because what is going on here?”

Louis turned to find what Niall was referring to. Zillow had obviously failed them. Had the family used old pictures for the website? Because the room was torn to shreds.

“Um, yeah, my friend didn’t say anything about this,” Harry said as he barely missed falling into a hole in the floor.

“Maybe a fire?” Niall asked as he stepped closer into the room. 

Louis scrunched his brow in confusion. “Either that or the previous owners were upset that they had to leave so they decided to defile a room as punishment for… something.”

Harry burst out laughing. “I’d probably go with the idea of there being a fire.”

“Do you think we could take one of these floorboards with us as a souvenir?” Niall asked as he picked up a small floorboard randomly laying on the ground.”

“You’re right, Lou,” Harry said as he pulled the item from Niall’s hands. “We definitely should have left him on the curb.”

Louis watched Harry snap a picture before continuing through the house. 

“Upstairs?” Niall prodded.

“We’re going to be sent to jail,” Harry mumbled as he followed Louis and Niall up the impeccable staircase.

After looking through a couple bedrooms Louis heard Niall screech from down the hall. Louis ran to where the voice had come from to find Niall standing in another room that was also torn apart. 

“Why are they ruining this beautiful house?!?” Niall practically yelled. “Honestly, the new owners should be the ones going to jail! I can’t even tell what room this is.”

“It’s the bathroom,” Harry said as if it were obvious.

“How can you even tell?” Niall asked, still sounding horrified.

Harry shrugged. “It’s off of a bedroom and there’s a bathtub in the middle of the floor.”

“That’s a bathtub?” Louis asked skeptically as he inspected the one piece of furniture in a house. “This has to be some sort of weird decoration, right? How could you possibly be comfortable in this thing?”

“Fair point,” Niall agreed. “Perhaps why I couldn’t figure out that this is a bathroom.”

Niall seemed to be rambling on when Louis froze.

“Did anyone here that?” Louis whisper-yelled.

“Hear what, Lou,” Harry asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Do you just want to pick up pizza for dinner?” a distant voice asked.

Harry’s eyes widened in horror and Niall slapped both hands over his mouth.

“We’re going to jail,” Louis mumbled so quietly no one heard.

The trio all looked to the bathtub in unison and Louis barely contained his laughter. Were all three of them considering hiding in the tiny bathtub?

Niall was already headed to the closet in the what was likely the master bedroom when Louis grabbed his arm in order to get to another room.

“Bedroom,” Harry whispered as he pointed in the other direction. “Down the hall.”

They scrambled into the rooms closet as quietly as possible and closed the door.

“What is this?” Niall whispered when they were situated. “For such a big house, you'd think the closet would be bigger. Forget about jail, lads, I’m going to die.”

And, yes, they were in trouble if the person currently in the house didn’t leave. 

“It’s okay, Niall,” Harry assured. “Just, like, pretend you’re not claustrophobic. It won’t be long.”

Niall scoffed. “If I could pretend I’m not claustrophobic that would be brilliant. You know I can’t even do group hugs for more than five seconds. I’m definitely going to die.”

“We’re going to have to make a run for it, Harry,” Louis advised. “If we don’t get him out of here he’s going to pass out.”

“They may already be searching for us,” Niall wheezed. “Did you forget we parked directly in front of the house?”

“I’d just like to remind you that this is your fault, Niall,” Harry whispered as he cracked open the door. 

“The home owners did leave their door unlocked, though,” Louis pointed out as he creeped out of the closet.

“I don’t hear anything,” Harry said as he neared the bedroom door.

“Let’s just run,” Niall said, sounding much better now that he was out of the confined space. “As long as they didn’t take down Liam’s license plate number we’re good.”

“We’ll run if we’re caught,” Harry instructed. “We tiptoe for now.”

“Noted,” Louis said with a nod.

“I don’t want to go to jail,” Niall whimpered.

Louis elbowed Niall in the side and said, “Get a grip, Horan.”

Niall merely nodded as Harry led them down the hall and descended the stairs. Thankfully the house was quiet. It seemed as if the occupant had left.

“Hello... who are you?” 

Niall let out a girly yelp as Harry stopped dead on the last step causing Louis to run full into him. So much for Harry’s plan to run if they were caught. 

The woman looked nice enough but she was also holding a phone that would give easy access to call the cops. 

Thankfully Harry came out of his coma and picked up the pace, breaking out into a full run once they made it outside.

“Nice house! You forgot to lock your door!” Niall yelled over his shoulder as the group piled into the car.

As they pulled away, he noticed the woman stood in the doorway with a shocked expression on her face. Shocked was good. That would delay any action towards calling the cops.

“I would just like to remind you how much I hate you, Niall,” Harry commented as he pulled out onto the main road. 

“Is anyone else sad that we didn’t get a tour of the barn?” Louis asked. 

Harry shot him a look and Louis merely shrugged. “Just curious.”

“As fun as that  _ wasn’t _ ,” Harry stated. “Are we still going to the beach?”

“Yes,” Louis agreed. “And when we get home we’re making Niall watch Pride and Prejudice.”

“I can’t believe he referred to Pemberley as a person,” Harry mumbled as he directed the car towards the beach. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! No Tumblr post for this. :)


End file.
